Big Bus Tours New York Reviews 4,568

Great tour guide, moved along at a good pace. Was well worth the money. Will recommend to others.

A day in New York.
The morning went fine but come evening, we waited through three buses before we were able to get on. Only 3-4 people were able to get on at a time. The third bus we opted out of due to only being able to sit on the bottom and no AC. The fourth bus we got on but had to sit on the bottom and could not see anything out of the windows. The guide said every bus would be just a full. It was a HUGE waste of money. They do not have enough buses running in the later afternoon/evenings.

First time to NYC and this was definitely the best way to get around. Plenty of stop to choose from and ideally chosen. Boat ride was awesome also. TopView was another option around town but they were on every corner pushing pushing to buy tickets. Made them look desperate. I don't like pushy people/companies so was very impressed with BigBus. Not to say they weren't on corners also but they had signs and let people come to them. I am so glad I chose BigBus Tours prior to my trip out. Every employee was pleasant and more than helpful. I would HIGHLY recommend BigBus to anyone visiting NYC for the first time or even if its not and you want an easy way to get around. We did the 48 hour tour and if I ever go back to NYC I will definitely use BigBus Tours.

So glad I chose the Big Red Bus Tour to get around New York. Easy to use with no hassle. Just hop off and on wherever you want.

They don’t even deserve 1 star. Worst customer service provided especially by John George at the very first stop. We were short on time as we had a flight to catch later in the day. There was a huge line up and the downstairs seats were going empty. We requested him to allow us to sit downstairs if no one ahead of us wants to but he kept sending the bus empty. It was obvious that he was doing that on purpose. In the end we had to wait for 30 mins to get in the bus. Very disappointing.

Fun times on BBT!!!

My experience with big bus tour at newyork is horrible.

1. Thus bus has no A/C
2. There were not enough people in the bus stop to explain or answer the questions.
3. I have been sent to multiple places to check-in as there were no one in the bus stop.
4. The drivers and the co-ordinators were very harsh. They don't care about their passengers or tours. Very rude.

I will not recommend to anyone.

Excellent tour guides with interesting historic points.

Need to pause for photo ops

My only MAJOR disappointment was not being able to take a picture of the Statue of Liberty. I went on the tour twice and they zoomed by too quickly for a picture

We liked most of the tour guides. The headsets worked great. One female guide was super aggressive with tips and stood by the bin reminding firmly they work for them. It made people uncomfortable and they quickly wanted off. We only rode the bus for two stops and did not even put in headphones. Also the air was not working on a few buses on the lower level. It was 100 degrees and probably way over that inside. No seats were available on top just to breathe. We got off sooner than planned a couple times to avoid passing out. Other than the air, it was a good experience. In the summer it would be nice to have the buses run until 8. It was cooler with the sun going down and the crowd level picked up.

There was no air conditioning on any of the busses. It was unbearably hot! Also, it was very difficult to find the pick up spots. I was very disappointed.

For our last day in New York City we decided to take a hop on and hop off bus. In Times Square we found an employee that was selling them. We decided to take one for the full day with all the tours.
First the lady told us that the price was 59$ per person, so 118$ in total but when we started to pay it was suddenly 158$ because of the city taxes. Something that she did not tell us before! When we gave here 160$ she did not have change and she “tried” to change it in the nearby store but could not, so we were left with no choice but giving her the 2$ that she was supposed to give back.
We bought this about 13H and the only tour she told us that was ending soon was the trip to the Statue of Liberty. This is why we had to take the downtown tour to take the ferry from there. On the bus there was no guide but just the audio guide that did not corresponded to what we were passing by.

Once we come down to the ferry the employers there told us that we could not take the ferry from there and that we had to take the bus again to take the ferry from pier 78 as it is no longer possible to take it from Brookfield. We could not believe it! We took the bus back to Times Square, this time there was a guide but he was awful!!! Just telling the personal opinions and no history at all!

Finally we got to the ferry and found out that we were not going to the Statue of Liberty, as the initial seller told us! We were just passing by, and since this was the last ferry it was not even passing by but stopping at the Brookfield. The guide at the ferry, again… awful!

At Brookfield we diced to take the Brooklyn tour, but guess what? It was no longer working as this tour finished at 15H something that the seller did not tell us!!!
So we tried to go to take the uptown tour, 40min waiting for the bus to come and at the end we diced to take the metro to try to catch the last bus of the upper town (what we were not informed about!). Of course we did not make the upper tour either as this one was finished as well by the time we go there.
The only good tour is the night tour, it had a decent guide!
So at the end we had 2 times in the downtown tour, half of the ferry tour for 160$. Absolutely waste of money!!!

I purchased a tickets on Big Bus Tours on June 30th. After an hour on the Upper East Side Route, We were told busses for the day were cancelled due to a parade downtown. We were stranded at Columbus Circle and Central Park South with no further information. I have been trying to get a refund or at the very least a voucher to ride another day, but the NYC Customer service people are rude and the online refund portal does NOTHING! Avoid Big Bus Tours!!!!!

Good and bad.
Too many queues, not enough buses.
When route changed due to accident we got no compensation as missing out on destinations.

Great experience. The tour guide was knowledgeable with many fun facts about NYC. I love the convenience of the hop on / off locations. Will definitely use this tour bus line again.

More buses needed to make wait times less, but all tour guides were great !

We took the premium 2 day pass that gave the free circle line cruise passed Mrs Liberty.. and night tour.. we arrived on Sunday morning at 745 and the bus was waiting.. guides and staff where there to help and answer all questions..had my 3 teenage granddaughters and hubby.. until afternoon we mostly sat together... never waited more than maybe 7 min for a bus.. but most of the time it was there..when we needed it.. tour guides were great.. drivers great.. staff great..early morning was a great time to go.. quiet.. empty.. it did get crowded in the afternoon so did the traffic.. but buses still where moving as quick as they could.. my two requests would be that they run longer.. still so much to see in the early evening.. also not thrilled with night tour.. basic some stories.. but would recommend this company.. no problems at all.. and staff top of their game.. great job..

DO NOT GET BIG BUS. We saw two of their buses broken down in 1.5 days and there were ppl in the line waiting for 15 mins. Their night tour is a scam because they won't tell you there's only one stop and no hop ons or offs. While most of their tour guides are nice and fun, I had one of them telling me that I had to take my wife home because she's tired. This is after only 2 stops being on the blue line. Their buses don't stop at all the stops mentioned in their app or brochure. You'll have to walk for 13 mins because their stop for the liberty cruise is temporary out.
Bottom line, go with the Greyline buses. Much better service and they have stops everywhere plus more buses are available.

The ride and tour guides were great but you need to improve on tickets . Like issuing wristbands. And more stop locations .

Tour was great. Just wish it wasn’t a requirement to use two day bus pass in consecutive days. Would have worked better for us to be able to use Monday and Wednesday.